> aren’t hired away with promises of a salary but instead large signing bonuses

Now you're being nitpicky. Take the vesting period of the sign on bonus, divide the bonus amount by that and add it to the regular salary and you get the effective salary.

> aren’t typically hired individually but as teams.

So? VC bros seem to forget the labor market is also a free market as soon it hurts their cashout opportunity.

> What does FUD mean in this context? I’m precisely relaying a personal anecdote.

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Your anecdote is little more than a scare story. It can be summarized as: if you don't let us cashout this time, we'll hold this against you in some undefined future.

> Now you're being nitpicky. Take the vesting period of the sign on bonus, divide the bonus amount by that and add it to the regular salary and you get the effective salary

These aren't the same things and nobody negotating and acquisition or acqhihire converts in this way. (I've done both.)

> Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Your anecdote is little more than a scare story. It can be summarized as: if you don't let us cashout this time, we'll hold this against you in some undefined future

It's a personal anecdote. There shouldn't be any uncertainty about what I personally believe. I've literally negotiated acquihires. If you're getting a multimillion dollar payout, you shouldn't be particularly concerned about your standing in the next founding team unless you're a serial entrepreneur.

Broader online comment, invoking FUD seems like shorthand for objecting to something without knowing (or wanting to say) why.